It is quite funny to turn 1 spellbomb and then watch your opponent squirm for the next six turns because he has two snapcasters in hand and doesn't want to play them.
There is room for anything. When do you need it (read: when is it valid)? And what is less valid. It could be something as small as -1 Alchemy (not my thought), or -1 Image. But that seems anti-Aggro to me.
To be honest, beating aggro in this format is a big deal right now. Aggro is incredibly overrepresented. Elesh Norn is probably the best card you can play in a control deck at this point.
It really makes me sad that Obliterator is unplayable right now. One of the best black creatures I've ever seen and traditional black sucks so much he can't even make it viable.
Obliterator is not unplayable because Mono Black is bad. Obliterator is unplayable because Dismember gives everyone an answer, not to mention Blue has bounce, White has O-Ring, Black has Go for the Throat, and Green has Beast Within. He is efficient, sure, but that's not enough to exist in this format when all you do is eat removal and die with no value gained.
Hey there, guys. I just thought I'd drop by to share with you all this Esper-control build I plan on testing. I would love to hear what you think of the build and I would love to hear any advice you may wish to share in regards to how I can improve my deck here:
What is the reasoning behind 4 Day of Judgment and 2 Zenith? I would rather run more Oblivion Ring. Also, where is Think Twice? Forbidden Alchemy is not going to be enough to keep your hand stocked with gas.
There is no reason to play mono-black, but there is no reason to play mono-colour at all, unless you're some kind of rage-aholic fire-slinger.
This is the most important thing to consider. The mana-fixing right now is too good to not splash a second color. You have the potential for 8 dual lands, plenty enough to splash. Note that the only colors we consider running by themselves are Black and Green, both of which have a card that is synergistic to the deck's strategy (Infect and Wolf Run Green) and requires basic lands to function optimally. Even so, both of these decks are either tier 2 (Infect) or have other versions that function better against the field (Wolf Run Green).
tl;dr: Don't run mono-color right now. It's not a good idea.
Also, MonoGreen is Dungrove Elder+Primeval Titan, which is hardly an autoscoop.
It wrecks pure control decks hard and then just loses to most aggro decks. In the current aggro-heavy metagame, I'd rather beat aggro and lose percentage points to control.
I think the issues with Black will be fixed throughout the block. Lili really needs more good discard targets to push her over the top. The card has a lot of potential, she just needs a little push.
Why does it seem like so few people run this card? It seems like this would be a staple in Blue decks, an essential part of most Trinket Mage packages. Is the effect just not good enough for this format? If so, why do so many folks run Reliquary Tower?
The main reason to not play Illusions is a meta infested with Mono Red. If that deck doesn't exist in your meta, Illusions is the better choice. I play Humans because Mono Red and Tempered Steel actually have a presence in my local shop's meta.
RGU: Animar could be good if you decide to play creatures, but overall riku of two reflections seems like the only viable general. (Unless youre aiming to be inconspicuous, in which case intet is a decent choice.)
There are a few problematic cards I fear but my reason for including Despise was to pluck Phantasmal Image to protect Olivia. Thrun comes to mind but there are other benefits to Despise such as peeking at their hand so...
It's not SO bad!
Thrun is the only thing Despise hits that ordinary countermagic doesn't. If you're worried about Thrun, run Phantasmal Image. Deals with him and lots of other potential problems (Mirran Crusader, Phyrexian Crusader, etc.).
I bought mine at $50 thinking I was getting robbed but then I sold them for $100 before the bubble popped. they are quite cheap now since they essentially see no play anywhere but sparingly in legacy.
Affinity is pretty cheap if I remember correctly unless ravagers are really expensive now.
Similar situation, got mine for $75, sold for $85 each. I was comfortable with the profit. I recently picked one up for EDH, though, and I'm thinking about diving into Legacy more, so I might end up getting a playset again. Off topic ramble, though.
I couldnt' figure out if I wanted Forbidden Alchemy at 4 or Desperate Ravings at 4 so I'm just going to test out 4 Ravings for now. I really want to run 27 lands if I run 4 Ravings but I needed to make room for the Despise so...
So then don't run Despise? It's really not that good. The things you want to counter in the control mirror are generally Walkers, and you want to counter Primeval Titan anyways, so.... yeah.
She's not a wish target, she's just a standard sideboard card. I only find her good as a singleton and only good against certain decks, so she's sideboarded.
I'm more concerned about your gameplan than your manabase.
Snapcaster, force trigger, Snapcaster again?
To be honest, beating aggro in this format is a big deal right now. Aggro is incredibly overrepresented. Elesh Norn is probably the best card you can play in a control deck at this point.
Obliterator is not unplayable because Mono Black is bad. Obliterator is unplayable because Dismember gives everyone an answer, not to mention Blue has bounce, White has O-Ring, Black has Go for the Throat, and Green has Beast Within. He is efficient, sure, but that's not enough to exist in this format when all you do is eat removal and die with no value gained.
Who says they pitch anything? What if it just ends up becoming a 0 mana storm increase?
What is the reasoning behind 4 Day of Judgment and 2 Zenith? I would rather run more Oblivion Ring. Also, where is Think Twice? Forbidden Alchemy is not going to be enough to keep your hand stocked with gas.
This is the most important thing to consider. The mana-fixing right now is too good to not splash a second color. You have the potential for 8 dual lands, plenty enough to splash. Note that the only colors we consider running by themselves are Black and Green, both of which have a card that is synergistic to the deck's strategy (Infect and Wolf Run Green) and requires basic lands to function optimally. Even so, both of these decks are either tier 2 (Infect) or have other versions that function better against the field (Wolf Run Green).
tl;dr: Don't run mono-color right now. It's not a good idea.
It wrecks pure control decks hard and then just loses to most aggro decks. In the current aggro-heavy metagame, I'd rather beat aggro and lose percentage points to control.
I think the issues with Black will be fixed throughout the block. Lili really needs more good discard targets to push her over the top. The card has a lot of potential, she just needs a little push.
And yet I see people running Venser's Journal, as well. This seems slightly better than the Journal.
Why does it seem like so few people run this card? It seems like this would be a staple in Blue decks, an essential part of most Trinket Mage packages. Is the effect just not good enough for this format? If so, why do so many folks run Reliquary Tower?
Double Scapeshift sounds absolutely hilarious.
Thrun is the only thing Despise hits that ordinary countermagic doesn't. If you're worried about Thrun, run Phantasmal Image. Deals with him and lots of other potential problems (Mirran Crusader, Phyrexian Crusader, etc.).
Similar situation, got mine for $75, sold for $85 each. I was comfortable with the profit. I recently picked one up for EDH, though, and I'm thinking about diving into Legacy more, so I might end up getting a playset again. Off topic ramble, though.
They float somewhere between 15-16 tix on MODO. So.... Affinity is probably out of the question. It's cheap, but not $50 cheap.
So then don't run Despise? It's really not that good. The things you want to counter in the control mirror are generally Walkers, and you want to counter Primeval Titan anyways, so.... yeah.